It's Been a Long Time (New Birth album)

{{Infobox album

| name = It's Been a Long Time

| type = studio

| artist = The New Birth

| cover = It's Been a Long Time.png

| caption =

| alt =

| released = October 1973

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = {{hlist|R&B|funk|soul{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/372127527 |title=Accent ...On Records |work=The Evening Sun |date=June 3, 1974 |access-date=February 28, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}}}

| length = 39:56

| label = RCA

| producer = Harvey Fuqua

| prev_title = Birth Day

| prev_year = 1972

| next_title = Comin' from All Ends

| next_year = 1974

}}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/its-been-a-long-time-mw0000838851 |title=It's Been a Long Time - New Birth |last=Hamilton |first=Andrew |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=February 28, 2025}}

}}

It's Been a Long Time is the fifth studio album by American funk and R&B band The New Birth, released in October 1973 by RCA Records.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/327865616 |title=Gold Triangle October Event |work=Tampa Times |date=October 24, 1973 |access-date=February 28, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/886997681 |title=Jarrett 'Solo' Album Is Marvelous |work=Omaha World-Herald |date=November 30, 1973 |access-date=February 28, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}} It was produced by Harvey Fuqua.

The album peaked at number 50 on the Billboard 200. Its two singles, "Wild Flower" and "It's Been a Long Time," peaked at 45 and 66 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.{{Cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/new-birth-mn0000388164/awards |title=New Birth |publisher=AllMusic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031234404/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/new-birth-mn0000388164/awards |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |url-status=dead}}

"Wild Flower" would go on to be one of the band's most successful songs and was performed frequently at concerts. It has also been sampled by multiple artists, including on "Unpredictable" by Jamie Foxx.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/donny-gerrard-dead-wildflower-singer-1235087772/ |title=Donny Gerrard, "Wildflower" Singer, Dies at 75 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=February 5, 2022 |access-date=March 2, 2025 |last=Gajewski |first=Ryan}}

Critical reception

Andrew Hamilton of AllMusic gave the album a rating of four out of five stars, giving particular praise towards the vocal performances.

Track listing

Track order sourced from Spotify.{{Cite web |url=https://open.spotify.com/album/7kTfYV2ObiectY53rVOO5V |title=It's Been a Long Time - Album by The New Birth |access-date=February 28, 2025 |publisher=Spotify}}

{{tracklist

| headline = It's Been a Long Time track listing

| total_length = 39:56

| title1 = It's Been a Long Time

| length1 = 5:54

| title2 = Keep on Doin' It

| length2 = 4:19

| title3 = Wild Flower

| length3 = 6:30

| title4 = Ain't No Change

| length4 = 4:39

| title5 = I'd Spend My Whole Life Loving You

| length5 = 3:30

| title6 = Pains of Love

| length6 = 5:18

| title7 = Heaven Says

| length7 = 4:26

| title8 = Come on and Dream Some Paradise

| length8 = 5:16

}}

Chart performance

class="wikitable"

!Chart (1974)

!Peak position

US Billboard Top LPs

|align="center"| 50

US Billboard Top R&B LPs

|align="center"| 7

=Singles=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
rowspan="2"\| Year !rowspan="2"\| Single !colspan="2"\| Chart positions
style="font-size:smaller;" !width="40"\| US !width="40"\| US R&B
rowspan="2"\| 1974 \|align="left"\| "It's Been a Long Time" \|66 \|9
align="left"\| "Wild Flower" \|45 \|17

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

rowspan="2"| Year

!rowspan="2"| Single

!colspan="2"| Chart positions

style="font-size:smaller;"

!width="40"| US

!width="40"| US
R&B

rowspan="2"| 1974

|align="left"| "It's Been a Long Time"

|66

align="left"| "Wild Flower"

|45